Welcoming Party
by Marie Nomad
Summary: Set after Sesshiohen, the dead gather together to pull a 'Welcome to the Dead Party' for a pair of familiar characters. Reposted due to major edits.


Okay, after reading the countless angst post Reflections fics (I cannot spell out the Japanese title); I decided to write a humor based Reflections fic. There is only one other that I know of on fanfiction.net. The first humor based Reflections fic is called Twisted Paradise by Firefury. The dead characters are based off of Team Spirits by April-san so they may be OOC for the most part. On the other hand, if you were dead wouldn't you act differently?  
  
Warning: Reflections OVA spoilers.   
  
Note: I had rewritten this fic somewhat after I learned that Saitou had died in the 1900's. So, after much debate I decided to rewrite it to fit that fact.   
  
Welcoming Committee  
  
By Maria Cline  
  
It was the day that everyone was waiting and planning for. They had watched and waited and a few prayed for it but now it was certain that today Himura Kenshin and Himura Kaoru will die.   
  
"Okay! Put up those streamers!" Okita, leader of the welcoming party committee and former captain of the Shinsengumi, said as he gestured to a pair of ghosts.  
  
"Here's the cake!" Kamiya Kasagi, Kaoru's long dead mother, exclaimed as she appeared carrying a cake. "I hope Kenshin loves chocolate."  
  
"Put it over with the other foods!" Okita suggested as he pointed to the table with the nachos, pizza, and other party foods.  
  
"Hey! His name is Shinta!" Sakura who was a former slave who had saved Kenshin's life when he was a small boy cried out.  
  
"That's right!" Kasumi and Akane, Sakura's sisters who had also helped saved Kenshin back then agreed.  
  
"Shinta's a wimpy name! His real name is the Battousai!" Jinei the insane assassin argued as he wrote in the word.  
  
"His name is Kenshin." Okina, former leader of the Obiwaban Group who was one of Kenshin's friends and one of the more recently joined members of the dead, argued.  
  
Okita rolled his eyes as he looked over at the banner decoration committee. "Guys! Kenshin's due to die any moment and you are still arguing on what his name is! We need to get the banner ready pronto!"  
  
"We can't decide which name to put up!" Sakura pouted.   
  
"Why don't you just put 'Welcome to the Dead' and not use the name?" Yumi said as she came in and sat down.  
  
"You decided to show up, Yumi-sama?" Okita asked politely to the current wife to the ruler of Hell.  
  
"Yes, Shishio-sama couldn't make it due to business in Hell. He told me to come here and record everything and make sure not to let Kenshin-"  
  
"Battousai!"  
  
"Shinta!"  
  
"Whatever in."   
  
Okita nodded as the banner decorating committee started to work on the banner. "Good."   
  
"Oh, my poor Kaoru-chan." Koshijiro, Kaoru's long dead father and founder of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Style moaned as he came in weeping. "She's dying and so alone! Wah!"  
  
"There there, she will be with us soon." Kasagi comforted.  
  
"Hey! Kenshin or Shinta or whatever is coming this way!" Captain Sagara, the current lookout said as he pointed down.  
  
"This is it! Get everything ready now!" Okita said as he waved both flags. "Get the banner up! Tomoe, get the music going!" The life-challenged group ran around getting the decorations up. Then, they looked down to see Kenshin or Shinta or the Battousai walking down the path.  
  
"He looks awful!" Sakura paled as she covered her mouth.  
  
"He's nothing but skin and bones." Saitoh muttered.  
  
Yumi blushed. "Oh my, he's covered in as many bandages as my dear Shishio-sama is."  
  
"Hey! Kaoru-chan's coming this way too!" Koshijiro gushed as he pointed down.  
  
"She looks almost as bad as Shinta."  
  
"My poor Kaoru-chan!"  
  
"She has her fair share of bandages too."  
  
"They're both look ready to drop!" Jinei gasped as he watched eagerly.  
  
"Go, Shinta go!" The three girls chanted as they held up their pom-poms.   
  
"Make it, my Battousai!" Tomoe screamed as she held up a huge flag.  
  
Okita sighed in relief as he watched the two fell into each others' arms. "They made it!"  
  
"Awww... they look so sweet like that." Akane said as she wiped away a tear.   
  
Tomoe and Yumi sniffed as they passed Kleenexes around.   
  
"What is going on?" A familiar looking redhead said as he came up with a dazed look in his eyes.  
  
"Shinta!"  
  
"Battousai!"  
  
"Kenshin!"   
  
The group cheered as they got out the party hats and cake. "Welcome to the dead! We got some cake and ice cream for you." Okita said as he came up.  
  
The man stared at him with an oblivious look in his violet eyes. Finally, he said, "Kaoru? Where's Kaoru?"  
  
The group face faulted and Okina held his head. "Oh, Kenshin...."  
  
"Relax, Okina, he's just suffering from post traumatic disease death disorder. His mind was confused when he died. Let's give him a beer!" Okita proclaimed as he handed Kenshin a beer. "Here you go."  
  
"You know, he looks less like a woman up close." Captain Sagara whispered.  
  
The man who is currently being known as Shinta, Battousai, and Kenshin ignored the comment and slowly drank the beer. He finished and gathered his bearings. "I feel better thank you, Okita-san." He paused and then looked around again. "Wait a second..." He pointed to Tomoe, the three girls, Okita, and the Obiwaban Group. "You're supposed to be dead!"  
  
"We are dead and so are you." Captain Sagara said as he put a friendly arm around the man's shoulders. "Say, what's your name? Everyone has been arguing about what to call you."  
  
The man closed his eyes and said, "Call me Shinta. That was the name my parents called me."  
  
All those who had known Kenshin in the Revolution face faulted. "Shinta? You really wanted to be named 'Shinta'?" Hijikata, Okita's superior in the war, moaned. "I don't believe this. The most feared fighter in the Revolution is a girly man named Shinta! I should commit seppuku."  
  
"I'm not that girly looking." Shinta glared at him.  
  
"Shinta. Who would have thought?" Yumi shook her head and then held up her camcorder. "Okay, Shinta, wave to the camera."  
  
Shinta still recovering from the shock of being dead and surrounded by dead guys waved back. "Hi."  
  
"Oh, Shishio-sama told me to tell you that you can't go to Hell. He didn't want to risk any goodness getting in after he put so much work into establishing order in that place." Yumi said as she chuckled.  
  
"Ah, okay."   
  
"Shinta? You are pathetic, Battousai." Jinei said as he came up. "You survived every sword battle and had managed to outlive most of the Revolutionaries and what got you? A stupid disease!"  
  
"AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT!" Okita screamed as he stabbed his katana into the deceased assassin.  
  
Jinei sighed as he looked down at the swords sticking out of his body. "I hate it when they do that." He pouted as the two pulled their swords back out again.  
  
Okita noticed Shinta gawking. "Relax; we do this all the time. Because we're dead, we don't feel anything by a little thing like being stabbed in the chest."  
  
"But that won't stop me." Koshijiro growled as he marched forward with a bokken in his hand. "HOW DARE YOU LEAVE MY KAORU-CHAN ALONE?!" He boomed revealing where Kaoru gained her infamous temper.   
  
"Oro?!" Shinta cried out as his eyes bulged. He ran off while his enraged father-in-law chased him.   
  
"NO ONE MAKES MY KAORU-CHAN MISERABLE AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Koshijiro screamed as he whacked Shinta on the head.  
  
The others watched in awe and fear as the man who was responsible for so many deaths ran from the supposedly peaceful man. Tomoe commented, "For the founder of one of the most peaceful sword fighting techniques in Japan, he is violent."  
  
"For once, I agree with you." Jinei said as he started on a beer.  
  
Kasagi who was still watching the action below said, "Kaoru-chan is coming! Koshi, stop beating up Shinta and come here quick!"  
  
The fight stopped and Koshijiro who was holding Shinta by the hair and beating him with the other hand dropped him.   
  
"Where am I?" Kaoru asked as she came up. She looked at Captain Sagara. "Sanosuke?"  
  
The man shook his head. "Nope, I'm his mentor. My boy's still alive and living in Mongolia."  
  
"Hi Kaoru, it's nice to finally meet you." Tomoe greeted as she came up with a beer. "Here, drink this; it will put some afterlife into you."  
  
Kaoru just drank the beer and gasped, "You're right, I do feel better." She blinked and stared at her again. "Tomoe?! You're supposed to be dead."  
  
"I know, I know, but so are you. This afterlife thing is a little hard to grasp at first, especially if you weren't aware of the death. That's why we have brochures." Tomoe handed her a brochure.  
  
"And so you are dead." Kaoru read on the brochure.  
  
"Kaoru-chan!" Koshijiro wailed as he and his wife came up and hugged her. "We missed you so much!"  
  
"Mommy! Daddy!" Kaoru exclaimed as she felt the two crushing hugs.   
  
"Are you okay? Look at you, you look so thin." Koshijiro doted as he let go and checked her.  
  
"I'm fine, I'm only dead. Where's Shinta?" Kaoru asked as she pulled away.  
  
"Right here, Kaoru." Shinta said as he got up rubbing his head. "I'm sorry it took me so long to return home." He bowed his head down.  
  
"That's okay. I understand." Kaoru smiled as she hugged him. There was a collective 'aw' from the others, except for the ex-assassins. Then, a bokken appeared out of nowhere and the woman whacked Shinta hard on the head. "But if you scare me like that again, I will kill you!"  
  
"Okay." Shinta smiled as he rubbed his head.   
  
"Well, now that we have that out of the way, we have stuff to do." Tomoe said as she took Kaoru's hand and led her to the three girls. "Like get you into the Shinta/Kenshin/Battousai fan club!"  
  
"Fan club?" Kaoru repeated stunned by Tomoe's chirpiness. From what Shinta described, Tomoe was often serious and never smiled. Of course, she was on a mission to kill the Battousai so she wasn't in a good mood at the time.  
  
"Uh huh. We're the founders of the club." Sakura said as she and the other girls were holding up banners with Shinta's face on it, buttons, and T-shirts with the phrase 'Rurouni Kenshin' on it.   
  
"And I'm the Treasurer." Tomoe said as she held up money.  
  
"Yes, with my money!" Jinei screamed startling Shinta and Kaoru.  
  
"Is it my fault you keep on losing bets?" Tomoe waved off. She saw Kaoru and Shinta gawking at Jinei. "Don't worry about him, Kaoru, Shinta, what can he do, kill us?"  
  
Shinta and Kaoru glanced at each other and started laughing. Then, Shinta looked at Okishira who was sitting to the side and asked, "Okishira, how did you die?"  
  
"Old age pure and simple. I'm lucky to live as long as I had. Most ninjas are lucky to make it to half my age before the Meiji Era."   
  
"Ummm... now that we're dead, what do we do?" Kaoru asked as she looked at the others confused.   
  
Okita came up and answered, "Oh, we just hang out, do random haunting, and watch the living world. Oh, the guys are wondering if you will take part in the Bakumatsu Reenactment Battles."  
  
"Bakumatsu Reenactment Battles?" Shinta and Kaoru asked at once.  
  
"Oh yeah, the ones who fought in the Revolution and a few others who didn't get to join in the first time get together and relive brutal battles."  
  
Shinta winced at the idea of becoming the Battousai again. "I don't know. Why do you guys to it?"  
  
"To scare the living of course! We fight in Kyoto and other famous battle sites at night, the living sees it or at least senses it and freak out! It's fun!"   
  
Shinta frowned and said, "So, that explains those weird sounds I heard while I was staying in Kyoto!"  
  
"Yeah, sorry about that but the ones you killed thought it might be fun to scare you." Okita rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Of course, you don't have to pretend to be the Battousai; we tend to switch roles for the heck of it. I sometimes play Katsura!" Okita grinned looking like Soujiro.   
  
"Can I play too?" Kaoru asked as she waves her hand. "I know that I am a woman and that I was a little girl when the Revolution happened but..."  
  
"That's okay! The more the merrier, besides some of the fighters are women too." Okita got out a signup sheet. "Here's the application. Just put down your name, phone number, and what kind of fighter you want to be. Oh and here's the descriptions of the roles."  
  
"Thanks." Kaoru said accepting the documents.   
  
"Let's get the cake and get the party starting!" Captain Sagara proclaimed as he grabbed Shinta by the shoulders and dragged him to the table with the cake and ice cream.   
  
Kaoru smiled softly as she followed them. When she first saw Shinta died before her eyes, she was afraid that it was the end. However, now surrounded by old and new friends she did not feel so alone. "This afterlife stuff might not be so bad."  
  
The End? 


End file.
